This invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium using electrophotographic technology or the like.
In the image forming apparatus, a toner image is formed on an image bearing body (for example, a photosensitive body) according to image data, transferred to a recording medium by a transferring unit, and fixed to the recording medium by a fixing unit. When the jam of the recording medium occurs in the image forming apparatus, it is necessary that the recording medium can be easily removed from the image forming apparatus. Thus, Japanese Patent Kokai publication No. 2000-19927 (pages 4 to 7 and FIG. 2) discloses a mechanism that brings a heat roller and a pressure roller of the fixing unit to stop pressing the recording medium when a lever is operated or an outer cover is opened.
However, the recording medium is not only pressed between the fixing portion but also nipped between the image bearing body and a transfer belt or the like. Thus, in order to remove the recording medium from the image forming apparatus, it is necessary to separate the heat roller and the pressure roller from each other and also separate the image bearing body and the transfer belt from each other, and therefore the operation becomes complicated. Moreover, when the recording medium is pulled out from the downstream side of the fixing unit, the unfixed toner image on the recording medium may adhere to the surface of the heat roller or the pressure roller.